Expressive Arts and Design

Intent

In Art and Design Technology all children are given step by step guidance and instruction on how to use media, and get better at methods and techniques. Children are taught technical language for methods and techniques and are given opportunities to embed this. We want our children to develop their manipulation and control of fine motor skills to enable them to use tools effectively such as scissors for cutting. We want our children to develop their artistic awareness to create and communicate what they imagine using a variety of media and methods.

In Music we want our children to begin to develop their musicianship by learning about pitch and rhythm, and to develop their confidence and ability to perform in front of an audience by singing songs or poems and dancing in time to music.

When thinking about the arts we want our children to be able to articulate their thoughts and feelings about things they have heard and observed and be able to explain their processes when showing others what they have created. We want our children to become confident story-tellers, to be able to retell narratives and recounts of events, using appropriate vocabulary, story language, time connectives and using props and small world toys to help tell their story.

Implementation

We have clear and sequential planning to ensure a clear progression of skills, knowledge and vocabulary as the children move through the Reception year. The skills, knowledge and vocabulary taught in reception prepares children well for Key Stage 1. New learning is discretely taught to all children and not just the children that already show an interest in it. In both art and music we follow a scheme that continues throughout the school.

In art we introduce skills and tools progressively making sure that all children are taught how to use them and have time to rehearse and master the new learning, each term we complete an art project. In music we have discrete teaching sessions to introduce new concepts and vocabulary and children are given time to master these skills and perform to others. In our continuous provision we provide open access to a workshop area and musical instruments alongside a stage area to perform on. We regularly play different types of music for the children to move to and to explain their thoughts on different genres of music.

In the Autumn Term we introduce ‘Drawing Club’, where children are encouraged to use their imagination and storytelling to think of a ‘magic code’ to accompany their drawing. Children are encouraged to have a go at composing and telling their own stories. Adults often scribe the stories for the children and then later in the day the story is told with children acting it out. Some children begin to write their own stories towards the end of the year in Reception. Children are encouraged by adults in the setting to take part in narrative play, either in role play or with the small world and construction resources. Children often draw 'story maps' to go alongside their narratives to help structure and retell their stories.

Impact

Children become experts at telling stories and using props and resources from our environment to support their storytelling. We see a clear development in art and DT skills, and notice that children begin to make choices about the media and tools they will use. Such as using masking tape or clear tape, or paper or card.

Children enjoy using the stage area to perform songs and dances and use the repertoire of songs learnt from the rhyme bag to perform. Children are able to talk about a ‘steady beat’ and why they enjoy or dislike a particular piece of music or art.

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